Origins of the Word "Phrenology"

PATRICIA S. NOEL and ERIC T. CARLSONAuthors Info & Affiliations

Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 127, Number 5

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.127.5.694

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Abstract

Phrenology is defined as the study of the conformation of the skull as indicative of mental faculties and character. The authors trace the development of this definition from Benjamin Rush, who meant phrenology to describe faculty psychology, through Franz Joseph Gall, who linked faculty psychology and craniology, to Thomas Forster and Johann Spurzheim, who gave the word its present meaning.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 127 • Number 5 • November 1970

Pages: 694 - 697

PubMed: 4923535

History

Published in print: November 1970

Published online: 1 April 2006

Authors

Affiliations

PATRICIA S. NOEL

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ERIC T. CARLSON

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Member of the section on the history of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences, department of psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, 525 E. 68th St., New York, N. Y. 10021, graduate student in history at New York University

Clinical associate professor of psychiatry, member of the section on the history of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences, department of psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, 525 E. 68th St., New York, N. Y. 10021

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Origins of the Word "Phrenology"

Abstract

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